1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a marinating device, and more particularly to a marinating device which is capable of retaining a position of a food marinating container so as to allow safe and effective marination of food, such as meat, within the food marinating container.
2. Description of Related Arts
A conventional marinating device usually comprises a supporting base having a marinating platform, a food marinating container and an electric driving arrangement mounted within the supporting base for driving the food marinating container to rotate on the marinating platform for mixing food with a predetermined of ingredients within the food marinating container.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,047,874 to Eastman, III, generally discloses a marinate tumbler comprising a base unit and a canister. The canister is rotatably placed on the base unit marination of food within the canister. In that disclosure, there is essentially no mechanism for retaining the position of the canister while the canister is rotating. Thus, when the canister is rotating, it may displace from its normal position and this effectively affect the marination performance of that invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,047,875 to Eastman, III, generally discloses a marinating food tumbler apparatus, in which the food treatment apparatus comprises a base unit and a canister which comprises a shoulder portion, a first groove, a middle portion, and a second groove. The middle portion has a diameter larger than a diameter of the first groove and the second groove, in such a manner that when the canister is placed onto the base unit for being rotated at a predetermined speed, the shoulder, the middle portion, the first and the second groove cooperate to ensure a proper alignment of the canister with respect to the base unit.
Moreover, Eastman, III, also discloses a connecting hose mounted to the base unit for selectively connecting a vacuum pump with the canister so as to allow a user to vacuum the canister for effectively marinating the meat within the canister when the canister is driven to rotate on the base unit.
There are several disadvantages in relation to this food treatment apparatus. First, it is said that the shoulder, the middle portion, the first and the second groove cooperate to ensure a proper alignment of the canister with respect to the base unit. This is fairly useful in retaining the position of the canister on the base unit. However, this prior food treatment apparatus has not considered the situation where the user himself misplaces the canister on the base unit. More specifically, although the food treatment apparatus as disclosed by Eastman, III, generally accomplishes a canister retention mechanism, it is by no means guarantee that the canister will be placed properly every time the user wishes to marinate his or her food. Thus, there is no mechanism to prevent the user of the food treatment apparatus from misplacing the canister in the first place. When the canister is indeed misplaced, the shoulder, the middle portion, the first and the second groove can no longer ensure a proper alignment of the canister with respect to the base unit, and the user has no way of detecting the situation unless the canister derails substantially.
Second, the connecting hose of the food treatment apparatus is suspendedly extended from the base unit and selectively used for effectively marinating the food within the canister. The problem is that when the connecting hose is exposed out of the base unit, it would be very easy to be damaged by something else. This is especially so when the food treatment apparatus is expected to be placed in a typical kitchen environment. When the connecting host is somehow damaged, this will substantially affect the vacuuming efficiency of the vacuum pump and therefore affect the quality of which the food is marinated.